Not everyone goes to CT for the shows. The dining, shopping, and lights are also popular.
COVID-19 & Coasters: Coronavirus Impacts on the Amusement Industry
- Thread starter GrandpaD
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Not everyone goes to CT for the shows. The dining, shopping, and lights are also popular.
They just need to wipe Santa down between children and it'll be fine.
Like Nicole said there's a lot more to Christmas than just shows. In fact when I'm at CT I mostly go just to walk around. I don't think I watched a single show last CT. Also for BGW it's already a reduced capacity event. I'm thinking it's easy to just put lights up and decorations and still have it be a Christmas event. It's harder to do that with Halloween because so much of it is built on scares.
Hershey is currently gauging employee interest for Hersheypark in the Dark and Christmas Candy Lane. Expect an announcement by early-mid August about what they will be doing after Labor Day.
Speaking of meeting Santa, I am curious to see if 'meetings with Santa' will be cancelled outright not just by theme parks, but malls as well; or perhaps, an amended meeting with Santa similar to how Disney is currently showcasing their characters. Meet Santa from afar?
Or how Universal does with characters. How about where he is sitting in his chair surrounded by lists of names and packages keeping guests at a distance. I think that could actually be cool for those that just want a quick selfie or pic of him but not the whole meet and greet. That was one thing I disliked when they moved it to the former Darkastle building, you couldn’t get get a glimpse of him in passing.
I was actually thinking exactly of the WIlkommenhaus setup. Able to see him working through a window and getting his picture without actually having to touch him one-on-one.
Green screen:
Sit on a stool and have Santa in another room as the plate it's being transposed onto.
Cedar Point and Kings Island are moving to weekends-only operation: https://www.journal-news.com/local/...ds-only-in-august/DZQPP6UINRBEHBYFMUSCHYMVP4/
This really validates Cedar Fair's decision to extend passes through 2021. It gives them so much flexibility to adjust schedules for demand and available employees without diminishing the value proposition for season pass holders. They can basically run these parks enough to make money and provide long term customer satisfaction without being obligated to run the park on really slow days or days they can't open much of the park up due to staffing problems.
Great video by Holiday World showing what to expect and how to do things when you visit.
We just got back from a brief road trip to the midwest. We went to KI and we felt like their system was fantastic. Everyone was wearing a mask, and it was being enforced. Ride ops would not dispatch if someone's nose wasn't covered, etc. The next day, we went to Holiday World and oh man what a difference. We masked up just like at KI, but there were maybe 1 out of 50 others that were masked and social distancing was a joke. We would stand well behind the person in front of us in line and there was someone right on our back every time.
Regardless of your thoughts on the current situation, there is a right and wrong way to go about reopening under all this crap.
Regardless of your thoughts on the current situation, there is a right and wrong way to go about reopening under all this crap.
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So I'm curious on others opinions on this:
What does what's amounting to a lost year mean for ride manufacturing? Will Intamin, B&M, S&S, Vekoma, RMC, GCI, GG suddenly have availability to do new rides? Or are we about to go through a period back to "parking lot coasters" of clones made to put on flat spots for minimal costs? Or maybe we see parks start to order more unique rides that could sustain 3-4 years without another coaster installation to ease their long term costs?
I'm kind of torn on this topic. Like take BGW for example. They open Pantheon next year, maybe they shelve The Spire for the time being, Intamin has an open slot to go to another park and put in something. And from BGW's standpoint they could possibly look at a clone coaster to put in for a short term tie over in now 2023. I almost feel I would rather see that happen for BGW.
On the flip side it might be smarter for a park like KD to go the opposite. Put in the clone coaster now, wait until things rebound some, and snap up one of those future open spots with another manufacturer for a custom coaster. Put in an Infinity or Raptor on a small scale cheap installation, do some flats for 2 more years, then really dive in with a great custom coaster in 2024.
But....what are your thoughts as to what will happen in this regards as it's different compared to what we usually talk about.
What does what's amounting to a lost year mean for ride manufacturing? Will Intamin, B&M, S&S, Vekoma, RMC, GCI, GG suddenly have availability to do new rides? Or are we about to go through a period back to "parking lot coasters" of clones made to put on flat spots for minimal costs? Or maybe we see parks start to order more unique rides that could sustain 3-4 years without another coaster installation to ease their long term costs?
I'm kind of torn on this topic. Like take BGW for example. They open Pantheon next year, maybe they shelve The Spire for the time being, Intamin has an open slot to go to another park and put in something. And from BGW's standpoint they could possibly look at a clone coaster to put in for a short term tie over in now 2023. I almost feel I would rather see that happen for BGW.
On the flip side it might be smarter for a park like KD to go the opposite. Put in the clone coaster now, wait until things rebound some, and snap up one of those future open spots with another manufacturer for a custom coaster. Put in an Infinity or Raptor on a small scale cheap installation, do some flats for 2 more years, then really dive in with a great custom coaster in 2024.
But....what are your thoughts as to what will happen in this regards as it's different compared to what we usually talk about.
So I'm more thinking parks are going to continue with anything already (mostly) paid for and/or constructed (Pantheon, Drachen Spire, the KD 4D FreeSpin) but are going to lay low for awhile on any more major purchases.
Their bottom lines are hurting compared to normal years, and my assumption based on the anecdotal evidence presented around this forum is that there's pent up demand tempered with caution meaning many parks may be better off penny pinching until the pandemic is over and large-scale consumer confidence and spending go back up.
Their bottom lines are hurting compared to normal years, and my assumption based on the anecdotal evidence presented around this forum is that there's pent up demand tempered with caution meaning many parks may be better off penny pinching until the pandemic is over and large-scale consumer confidence and spending go back up.
^^-- Yeah, if or when things get sorted, they will complete committed projects, but after that look at 2 years complete pause. The big question will be what happens then. I predict up to a decade before full recovery. In between, flat ride, etc. fans get their wishes and maybe a new generation of budget coasters.
I'm starting to really get Six Flags' survival-centered business model of recent years.
I think some of these changes may be permanent, such as shortened hours. First world problems and I am more appreciative of parks even existing, but dammit so much of what made it great instead of merely really good could get killed by this thing.
I'm starting to really get Six Flags' survival-centered business model of recent years.
I highly doubt that they would be near as close to empty as many parks are for huge chunks of time. This is Cedar Point and KI we're talking about here. But even then, to be able to go at slack times is part of "the value proposition for season pass holders". Or certainly was.
I think some of these changes may be permanent, such as shortened hours. First world problems and I am more appreciative of parks even existing, but dammit so much of what made it great instead of merely really good could get killed by this thing.
This period would be the time to make more investments, not less, and by more I would focus on quantity and excitement over quality. This is going to be a tough period so it's imperative to get guests in the door, with new attractions being a major draw. During good times, it's better to focus on in-park experiences that increase customer spending since the park is already filled up, but in bad times it's imperative to maintain a customer base.